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Cathedral Rock. 



TWO WEEKS 



YOSEMITE AND YICINITY. 



By Rev. J. M. BUCKLEY. 



TWO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



.-'^COPVf^lGHf'v 
1873 \ 



..A. 



NEW YORK: 
]^ELSO]Nr & PHILLIPS 

CINCINNATI: HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

NELSON & PHILLIPS, 

in tlie Office of the Librarian of Con.fjress at Washington. 




TWO WEEKS 

IN THK 

TO SEMITE AND VICINITY. 



Most tourists give but two or three daj^s to the Yosemite ; 
and some, havino; bad weatlier, or notrecoveriuo: from their 
fatigue before leaving the Valley, are disappointed, and 
send to their friends and the public partial and contradic- 
tory descriptions. Cautioned by old travelers against this 
blunder, I made arrangements for all the time necessary to 
visit thoroughly the Big Trees and the Yosemite, and con- 
sumed nearly three weeks in what was in experience, and 
is in recollection, one of the most delightful, healthful, in- 
spiring, and instructive tours of my life. What I saw% and 
something of what I felt, will be briefly and familiarly, 
yet accurately, told in the following pages, the friendly 
letter and not the formal essay being my model. 

The excursion was made in May and June, 1871, and we 
were fairly on the way to the Calaveras Grove of Big 
Trees when w^e took the stage for Murphy's Camp, which 
is only sixteen miles from the Grove. The keepers of the 
various inns or lodging-places along the route had not been 
duly informed of the unusual rush of travel, which began 
about the time we left San Francisco ; and at the first stop- 
ping place we were met by a party one of whom told us 
that they had just eaten the last morsel of food in the house. 
As it was then past noon, and we had taken a very early 



6 TWO WEEKS IN" THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

breakfast, this was painful intelligence ; but, like most bad 
news, the first account was worse than the truth ; for after 
some complaint and delay we secured a hunch of bread, 
potatoes, and pork, which hungry people can dispose of 
without difficulty, though Jews, Mohammedans, and dys- 
peptics might find some trouble with the pork. But, as we 
ate all the landlord had, (as he solemnly declared,) Avhat 
the three stage-loads behind us, who also dined there, found 
to satisfy their cravings, we have never been able to guess. 
We reached the hotel at the Calaveras Grove late in the 
evening, after more than thirty miles of staging, and to our 
consternation found the only house full to overflowing ; but 
after the usual bustle the ladies were accommodated with 
decent rooms and beds, while the gentlemen were sent into 
the garret, where there were about twenty single cots. I 
went to one, and was about to lie down, when the clerk 
said that it belonged to the hostler ; the next was occupied 
by a driver, and similar information was given until the 
fifth was reached, which I was allowed to take. It required, 
however, much argument, persuasion, and clamor, to get 
clean linen, the clerk persisting in saying that the bed had 
not been used ; but a " struck jury" of the guests, after in- 
specting the same, rendered a verdict that my interest and 
that of the traveling public required, at least, clean sheets 
and pillow-cases. Of the twenty men who " garreted " 
together that night three should never apply to their night's 
rest the words of the poet, " gentle sleep," for they are so- 
norous snorers, the unconscious breathings of one in partic- 
ular resembling a mingling of trumpet blasts and steam 
whistles, Vv'hile another's snore sounded like the far-ofi' roll 
of the ocean. "Weary as we were, these " songsters of the 
night" kept us awake until we became accustomed to the 
rhythm, which was not until toward morning. After an 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 7 

early and very good breakfast, (for the landlord " knows 
how to keep a hotel " when he is not over crowded,) we 
crossed the road and entered the w^onderful Grove of which 
we have heard so much in the few years since it was dis- 
covered. 

The day was pleasantly spent in exploring the region and 
measuring some of the trees. You will not expect me to 
use the marvelous lanojuao;e about tlie Bio; Trees which tlie 

!^ CD CD 

lecturers and newspaper correspondents have developed 
into a style as much larger than that of ordinar}^ conversa- 
tion as the trees are larger than rose bushes. I shall be 
content with the humbler task of giving you some informa- 
tion taken from accurate sources, and sketching the walks 
wdiicli I took tlirough the Grove. 

" The Calaveras Grove of Big Trees," says Prof. Whit- 
ney, tlie geologist, who gives Mr. Hutcliings as his author- 
ity on this point, " was the first one discovered by white 
men, and the date was the spring of 1852. The person 
who iirst stumbled on these vegetable monsters was Mr. 
A. T. Dowd, a hunter employed by the Union Water 
Company to supply the men in their employ with fresh 
meat while dio-o^ins: a canal to brins; water down to Mur- 
phy's. According to the accounts, the discoverer found 
that his story gained so little credence among the workmen 
that he was obliged to resort to a ruse to get them to the 
spot where the trees were." 

I shall now condense, from Prof. Whitney's work and 
other sources, an account wdiich will enable those who read 
this sketch to know witliout difficulty what to believe and 
to state about these w^onders of the vegetable world. The 
story of their discovery soon got into the papers of Cali- 
fornia, and w^as republished in the " Athengeum " and the 
'' Gardeners' Chronicle " of London. In December, 1853, 



8 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

Dr. Lindley published a scientific description of the Big 
Trees, and, supposing them to be an entirely new genus, 
he named them "Wellingtonia, and added, to designate the 
species, the title Gigantea. But furtlier examination 
showed that the Big Tree is of the same nature as the 
Bedwood ; and tlie Redwood had formerly been named Se- 
quoia, after an Indian of the Cherokee tribe who invented 
an alphabet of eighty-six characters for his people. Since 
a celebrated French botanist, named Decaisne, has con- 
clusively proved that the Bedwood and the Big Tree are 
of the same genus, the Big Tree is commonly called 
Sequoia Gigantea Decaisne. Brof. Whitney observes that 
"it is to the happy accident of the generic agreement of 
the Big Tree with the Redwood that vv^e owe it that we are 
not now obliged to call the largest and most interesting 
tree of America after an English military hero." A great 
demaud. for seeds of the Big Tree sprang up, and "hun- 
dreds of thousands of the trees (millions it is said) are grow- 
ing in different parts of the world from seeds planted." 
They grow more than two feet per year; and soon produce 
cones, which, though symmetrical and pleasing to the eye, 
are not as large as would be supposed. So many improb- 
able — even incredible — tilings have been said of the Big 
Trees, that 1 was prepared to find them much smaller 
than they are generally represented to be, but was agree- 
ably surprised, for they are grander and more majestic 
than I had ever imagined. On entering the Grove a few 
of the lower Trees only were visible to me, and compar- 
ing them with some magnificent Sycamores that stand in 
an old church-yard near Bhiladelphia, Pa., the Sequoia 
seemed somewhat higher than the Sycamores, but not 
astonishingly high. 
Knowing the height of the Sycamores to be less than one 



TWO WEEKS IN" THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 9 

lumdred and ten feet, and how easil}^ we are deceived by 
comparisons of what we see with what we remember, I 
walked aronnd one of the Trees, and found it as large as 
four of the Sycamores ; and, by retreating from its base to 
secure a proper angle of vision, saw that it must be more 
than two hundred and twenty feet in height. I then passed 
on to examine in rotation all the Trees, of which there are 
in this Grove over ninety of immense size, besides many 
smaller, any one of which, standing on the Atlantic coast, 
would be considered a great curiosity, and would attract 
visitors from every direction. 

The principal Trees have names such as follows : 

Name. Circumference sLx; feet from ground. Height. 

Keystone State 45 feet 325 feet 

Mother of the Forest 61 feet (without bark). . .315 feet 

Daniel Webster 47 feet 307 feet 

That you may form a better idea of these heights, I will 
parallel them v/itt^ objects with which you are familiar : 

Height. 

Trinity Spire, New York 284 feet 

Bunker Hill Monument 221 feet 

Hence, to represent the height of the Keystone State, we 
might imagine tlie Brooklyn pier of the East Eiver Bridge, 
which, as it now stands, is over one hundred feet high, 
placed on the apex of Bunker Hill Monument, or a tine 
elm tree placed as a plume on the top of Trinity Church 
steeple. 

One of the Trees was cut down, and to accomplish it, took 
five men twentj^-two days ; and after it was cut through, 
required three days' labor to make it fall down — its weight 
being so great that it remained firmly in its place. The 
stump still exists, having been smoothed off about six feet 
from the ground, and a small house has been erected over 



10 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

it. I measured its diameter, and found it a little over 
twenty-fonr feet. When the bark was on it the entire di- 
ameter of the trunk mnst have been twenty-seven or twenty- 
eight feet, which gives a circumference of more than eighty 
feet. It is quite common for large parties to dance on the 
stump ; and sermons have been preached to congregations 
of from fifty to seventy-five persons, who had abundant 
room on that sinsrular floor. I was anxious to see the Tree 
through which it is said tliat a man can ride two hundred 
feet or more on hoiseback ; a story which I had often heard 
but not fully credited. But who shall dispute with facts ? 
There lies the hollow Tree, and people do ride through it 
on horseback, for which the space is ample; and if it were 
not, the thickness above for several feet might be cut away 
without coming to the surface. I also measured several of 
the Trees and found that the measurements of the Geoloo;- 
ical Survey are absolutely correct. 

The stories about the wonderful age of these Trees are 
now eifectually exploded. Prof. Whitney says, that the 
rings of annular growth show that one of the largest of 
them is one thousand three hundred years old. This would 
be great for the age of a man, and highly respectable for 
that of a nation ; but those who have said that " when l^eb- 
uchadnezzar was on his throne, and Solomon built the tem- 
ple, and Cesar crossed the Rubicon," these Trees were in 
their glory, have no authority for their statements. 

The purity and translucency of the atmosphere add 
much to the enjoyment of the traveler, as the belt occupied 
by the Grove is four thousand seven hundred and fifty- 
nine feet, or more than tw^o-thirds the heiglit of Mount 
Washington in 'New Hampshire, above the level of the sea. 
The longer I wandered through the Grove, the deeper the 
impression of its grandeur became. Like iN'iagara, it seems 



TWO WEEKS IN" THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 11 

to grow as we gaze upon it, and the spectacle ennobles all 
who behold it. 

Subsequently I had tlie pleasure of exploring the Mari- 
posa Grove, of which I shall not say much for want of 
space. It is five thousand five iiundred feet above the sea 
level, or at an elevation nearl}^ twice as great as that of the 
Catskill Mountain House, and is reached on foot or horse- 
back from Clark's Ranch, from which it is about five miles ; 
over which distance an ascent of one thousand five hundred 
feet is spread. Here " there are about one hundred and 
twenty-five trees over forty feet in circumference." The 
average height of the trees in this Grove is not as great as 
tliat of those in the Calaveras, but the average circumference 
is considerably greater. They have been much injured by 
fire, yet tlie effect of the whole, witli the Pitch and Sugar 
Pines, the Douglas Spruce, the White Fir, the Bastard Cedar 
and other trees associated wnth tlie Sequoia Gigantea, is 
very grand. The trees in this Grove are not named, as in 
tlie Calaveras, but are numbered. I give the height, cir- 
cumference at ground, and circumference six feet above 
the ground, of the five largest, according to the tables of 
the State Survey : 

Height Cu'cumfereiice at ground. SLx feet above ground. 
No. 330 91 feet 6 iuclies 

Prof. Whitney says of this Tree : " Splendid tree ; over 
one hundred feet in circumference originally, but much 
burned at base." 

Height. Circumference at ground. Six foet above ground. 

No. 304 ,260 feet 92 feet 7 inches 

No. 245 270 feet 81 feet 6 indies 67 feet 2 inches 

K'o. 64 feet 82 feet 4 inches 50 feet 

No. 60 feet 81 feet 6 inches 59 feet 

I enjoyed my lonely trip through this Grove, (for I w^as 
on foot and alone,) to a degree which w^ould have reached 



12 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

ecstasy if there had been two or three congenial spirits witli 
me. There are, however, two sorts of persons who might 
have spoiled it — tlie parrot guide, who Avonld have profaned 
the sanctity of that '' first temple of God " by his mercenary 
chatter, and the prosaic traveler, who wonld have been 
continually calculating the number of cords of wood or feet 
of lumber in each tree. I will remark one fact about the 
Big Trees, which detracts something from their power to 
impi-ess permanently. Their form is simple and easily re- 
membered. After they have been once seen, they cannot 
be forgotten ; hence, when revisited, they appear just as 
they are expected to appear, and the imagination having 
but little room to play, the impression diminishes. It is 
notso witli mountain scenery, which cannot be remembered 
as it is, because of its vastness and variety, of summit and 
valley, of gentle slope and precipice, of rivulet and cataract : 
nor with the Falls of Niagara, or even of Schaffhausen, 
where the rush of the torrent and the ever-changing, never- 
ending variet}^ of light and shade defy the recollection and 
make it impossible that they should be to the eye a second 
time as at first ; nor with such grand works of architecture as 
St. Paul's, London, or St. Peter's, Eome, where the struc- 
ture is immense, and the form, though symmetrical is yet 
complicated, and not to be fully comprehended b}^ a glance. 
The simplicity and regularity of the structure of the Trees 
explain the fact that nearly all travelers are more agree- 
ably impressed with the Grove they visit first. If that be 
the Mariposa, though they afterward explore the Calaveras, 
they will speak more enthusiastically of the former, while 
the impression on my mind was greater at the Calaveras. 
I will now take leave of the Sequoia Gigantea by ex- 
pressing my high admiration of Prof. Whitney's book on 
the subject, which was of great use to me at every step. 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 13 

and on which I relied more and more as I tested its unfail- 
ing accuracy. He thus closes his remarks on the Big Tree : 
" It occurs in great abundance, of all ages and sizes, and 
there is no reason to suppose that it is now dying out, or 
that it belongs to a past geological era, any more than the 
Kedwood. The age of the Big Trees is not so great as 
that assigned by the highest authorities to some of the En- 
glish Yews. Neither is its lieight as great by far as that of 
an Australian species, the Eucalyptus Amygdalina, many 
of which have, on the authority of Dr. Mliller, tlie eminent 
Government botanist, been found to measure over four 
liundred feet. One, indeed, reaches the enormous elevation 
of four hundred and eight}' feet, thus outstripping the 
tallest Sequoia by one hundred and fifty-tive feet. * * * 
On the whole it may be stated that there is no known tree 
which approaches the Secpioia in grandeur, thickness and 
height being both taken into consideration, unless it be the 
Eucalyptus. The largest Australian tree yet reported is 
said to be eighty-one feet in circumference at four feet from 
the ground ; this is nearly, but not quite, as large as some 
of the largest of the Big Trees of California." 

We will now take up the journey in the order of time, 
and leave the Calaveras Grove for the Yosemite Yalley. 
Our route was back to Murphy's Camp, thence to Sonora, 
thence to Garrote, and thence to Crane's Flat. Yery much 
of the country has been worked for gold, and presents on 
that account a peculiar aspect. Nature never leaves, after 
any of its convulsions, the face of a country in a condition 
at all resemblino^ that of a res^ion which has been worked 
for gold. Here and there we saw men still at work ; and 
one whom I questioned informed me that his average yield 
for that season had been about eight dollars per da}^ In 
former years, however, the yield had been much greater. 



14 TWO WEEKS m THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

About seven miles before reaching Sonora, some of us left 
the coach in order to relieve it of a part of the weight, as 
the hills were becoming very steep. 

The Rev. D. A. Goodsell, of Connecticut, participated 
with me in this pedestrian exploit, and that it may be un- 
derstood how much the horses were relieved by our de- 
parture, the following problem in mental arithmetic is 
given : If fifteen pounds be deducted from the weiglit of 
the writer, and the remainder be multiplied by two, the 
product will be the weight of his companion ; but if twenty- 
five pounds be added to the weight of both, and the sum 
be multiplied by five, the result will be one ton. We did 
not expect to walk more than a few miles, as the hour was 
high noon, and the sun shone, or rather blazed, upon us 
most unmercifully ; but, through some misunderstanding, 
the stage passed us, and we were obliged to walk to Sonora, 
where we expected to find the vehicle and the balance of 
the load in w^aiting. In this we were disappointed, as the 
driver had pushed on. So, after dining in this ancient 
town, (ancient for California,) we procured a couple of fleet 
horses, and overtook the party at the next halting place, 
twelve miles further on. 

When we reached Gar-ro-te, a place wdiose name over- 
throws the famous quotation from Shakspeare, 

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose 
By any other name would smell as sweet," 

we found the house crowded, and, as three or four loads, 
averaging fifteen each, arrived with us, where we were to 
stay the night became a serious question. We found in 
the party two or three English noblemen, traveling as pri- 
vately as possible, and more modest, unassuming gentlemen 
we never met. About ten o'clock the ladies got places to 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 15 

sleep, some of which might be called beds, others were 
beds " as it were," or " so to speak ; " but the gentlemen 
were obliged to sleep where they could. The English 
lords slept on the floor in the bar-room ; and, though its 
odors were not balmy, their influence, combined with that 
of previous fatigue, was soporific. Seven or eight of us 
were disposed of in a small sitting-room — my pedestrian 
friend on an antique settee nearly two feet too short for 
him. I was stretched on an ancient and populous buflfalo 
hide, from which divers fleas were disposed to flee, not 
further, however, than to the person of the traveler who 
trespassed on their territory. The rest of the floor was oc- 
cupied by five men in every possible relation to each other. 
Daniel O'Connell once confounded an abusive woman by 
calling her a parallelogram. If he had been of our party, 
looked at from one point of view, he would have been part 
of a parallelogram himself; and from another, part of a 
triangle ; and from another, the arc of a circle. But, 
thougli neither fleas, nor bad air, nor the hard floors, nor a 
leather valise for a pillow, could keep me awake, a lusty 
snorer succeeded in doing so, until, in self-defense, I was 
obliged to awaken him, after which he could sleep no more, 
and I obtained a little rest, and but a little, for at two in 
the morning we were roused with the information that the 
stage would start in half an hour. Up we sprang and con- 
tended for our turn at the tin wash-basin, hurriedly swal- 
lowed our breakfast, which was good enough for the price, 
though we would rather the price had been more, if the 
quality and variety had improved wnth it. 

At three we left the hotel, all, or nearly all, in good 
spirits, and about eleven o'clock reached the base of the 
lofty mountain on the summit of which lies the clearing 
where the stage route ceased and the horseback riding 



16 TWO WEEKS IN" THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

began. I proposed to one of the Englishmen to walk np 
the monntain, to which he assented, and we made the five 
miles in about two hours and a half; traveling at a rat^ 
wdiieh, though verv slow on a plain, any ODe who attempted 
to keep with us on such a steep ascent would find to be 
sufticiently rapid. The superiority of the horse as a traveler 
does not accompany that animal into high mountain re- 
gions. An ordinary pedestrian can ascend a mountain 
much sooner than a stage or carriage, however light its 
load, can be drawn up by horses; and a first-rate mountain- 
eer can go much faster than a man on horse or mule back, 
either up or down a steep mountain road. This statement 
does not apply to merely hilly roads; on them, in descents 
and on the intervening levels, the horses make up what 
they lose in ascending, but it is true of all long and steep 
ascents and descents. And on any roads, for a month or 
six weeks, pedestrians can be found w^ho can travel farther 
and end the journey in better condition than any horses, 
though the endurance of the mule defies all competition 
except that of the camel and the dromedary. 

Our walk was delightful. The quietness of the wilder- 
ness was now" and then broken by the startled movements 
of some small animal or bird, disturbed by our aj^proach, 
as w^e turned from the main path to drink at a spring or 
brook, to survey some immense tree, or to shorten the route 
by taking a straighter thougli steeper line, to some distant 
turn in tlie road. At each new view of increasing beauty 
the Englishman would say, " That's a rum view"," and if 
any tiling unusual took place he would sa}' , '' That's a rum 
thing." This is an adjective with which the readers of 
Dickens are somewhat familiar ; but if it is to be applied to 
so many different subjects, its meaning should be expanded 
by difi'erences of intonation. Our real hope was to reach 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. IT 

the snniiiiit in time to make a good selection of horses for 
onrselvas and friends, bnt in this we were disappointed by 
tlie extreme democracy of the agent in charge, who allowed 
no choice to be made until the whole company should 
arrive. So that we had an hour to wait; nevertheless, we 
agreed that the walk and subsequent rest were more pleas- 
ant than tlie wearisome lumbering of the stage. 

At last all were ready, and then one of the most amusing 
scenes you can imagine occuri-ed. Some of the ladies had 
not been on horseback for twenty years, and some never. 
They were told that to ride on side-saddles is botli incon- 
venient and dangerous, and that it is much better to ride 
like their husbands and brothers. Some of the younger 
ladies had an unpleasant consciousness of the novelty of the 
situation, and some determined to sacrifice comfort to cus- 
tom ; but, after a brief trial, all but two or three rode like 
couriers, and, amid much laughter and good spirits, the 
cavalcade started for the Valley. My heavy friend, who, 
unlike many large men, is well-proportioned and a fine 
rider, found a powerful mule, on which he sat with dignity 
and ease ; and I procured a graceful and swift pony which 
moved under me as easily as a cradle under a sleeping 
child. My friend's mule was a remarkable animal. When 
all was ready, and the signal was given to start, this mule 
looked on his master, looked on the company, looked on the 
whole universe as far as he could see it, and opened his 
mouth little by little, the mighty chasm yawning until it 
seemed like one of the heads of alligators which adorn pri- 
mary geographies, and from the abyss came forth a sound 
such as only a mule or his father can produce — loud bass, 
baritone, tenor, all mixed, not blended, prolonged until the 
mountain rang again. It w^as a trumpet blast, and its in- 
spiring notes stirred every animal in the party. Having 



18 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

littered this voice, before my friend had time to deserve 
such a reproof as Balaam received, the mule straightened 
his ears and started. We shall hear his voice again. 

The cavalcade numbered about sixty, and presented a 
picturesque appearance as it wound along the narrow bridle 
path. A more minute description of our route wall now 
be interesting to those who have followed us thus far. At 
the point where we took the horses, w^e were some thou- 
sands of feet higher than the level of the Yosemite, and 
were, by the patli, about twenty miles distant from the 
hotels. Prof. Whitney will explain the necessity of thus 
ascending and descending so many thousands of feet as 
follows : '^ The traveler is obliged to rise from three thou- 
sand to three thousand five hundred feet higher than the 
point which he wishes to reach, namely, the bottom of the 
Yosemite Yalley, which is only four thousand feet above 
the sea level, while the highest point on the Mariposa trail 
is seven thousand four hundred feet in elevation, and the 
summit on the Coulterville and Big Oak Flat side not 
much less." The reason of this w^e shall understand better 
when we draw near the walls of the Yalley. Moving as 
we were, along the side, though very near the summit, of 
the Sierra, and sometimes passing over it, we caught, every 
few moments, transient views of magnificent scenery in the 
distance, but for the greater part of the first ten miles the 
superb forests which cover the region prevented our seeing 
any thing else, nor did we much desire any thing more grand 
than the lofty Cedars and Sugar and Pitch Pines, as well as 
the majestic Firs, which stand like sentinels on every side. 

Having a fleet horse, and but little for him to carry, and 
being accustomed to mountaineering, I formed the pre- 
sumptuous and hazardous resolution of getting into the 
Yalley before all the others. Of course, there was no difli- 



TWO WEEKS IN" THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 10 

cnltj in passing the ladies and several elderly gentlemen, 
nor was there any trouble in distancing several fine riders 
who were miserably mounted ; but there were several gen- 
tlemen who were well-mounted, and capital riders, and had 
the same resolution which I had made. The superior 
strength of my friend's mule overcame all the disadvan- 
tages of his weight, and lie kept well up with the foremost. 
One reason for our desire to get in first was, that there are 
but four or five houses in the Valley, the day was Saturday, 
there were indications of a storm, and we were told that 
the hotels were crowded — wdience we concluded that some- 
body would have very poor accommodations. Allowing 
my pony his own gait, I had passed all save two parties, 
one of three, the other of five, of which the five were a few 
hundred yards behind the three. I overtook them at a 
point wdiere the path for a short distance is very steep, and 
there turning aside at a rapid canter, I undertook to pass 
them, when, "horrible to tell," the girth broke, the saddle 
turned, and I was on the ground, not hurt, but demoralized, 
and compelled to ask one of mj^ rivals to assist me to ad- 
just the saddle and get under way. The fleetness of my 
horse, however, enabled me to pass all but two, and by one 
of these I should certainly have been beaten if he had not 
met with a similar accident. As it ended, the two of the 
advance party and myself rode in side by side. 

There is a partial view of the Yalley at a point called 
the "Stand Point of Silence." I did not pause there, as 
it seemed better to reach the end of the journey as soon as 
possible, especially as the npper part of the Yalley is not 
visible at this point. Just beyond we began rapidly to 
descend into the Yalley. It is about this part of the route 
that siicli thrilling adventures are told — such as this — " that 
the overhanging rocks project so that one is obliged to ride 



20 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

Oil tlie extreme erlge to avoid being knocked off the preci- 
pice, wliicli happening, tlie unfortunate man would fall per- 
pendicularly some thousands of feet." There are, indeed, 
many appalling depths, and the path is sometimes narrow, 
and if a horse were blind, and his rider intoxicated or 
asleep, the animal might wander out of the path and meet 
with disaster ; but there are no j^laces along either of the 
main routes where one is in danger of being knocked off as 
stated. There are few points wdiere a horseman meeting 
another would not find room to pass; and there is no spot 
where, if horse and rider fell over the precipice from the 
path, they would fall perpendicularly two hundred feet, 
though there would be ample scope for them to dash and 
roll below for a long distance. Any woman not more than 
sev^enty years old, if in fair health, can ride the whole dis- 
tance without any occasion for fright. A very heavy per- 
son in some of the steepest descents might do well to dis- 
mount, though it is not necessary. Indignation at those 
who have exaggerated the perils of the route, and thus de- 
terred timid persons from entering, was freely expressed 
by many ; and one of the party of three, an eloquent Pres- 
byterian clergyman of San Francisco, made tlie whole de- 
scent with his hands in his pockets, sitting bolt upright on 
his horse's back. Both the Mariposa route and that which 
we took are every way as safe as ordinary mountain trails. 
Still, let no one expect to find them like the Boulevards, 
or the avenues in Central Park. 

The last five miles are through the Yalley, of which we 
could see nothing, as it was now quite dark. I selected 
the middle of the three hotels, Black's, and obtained quar- 
ters for the eight wdio were immediately of our party, and 
while sitting in the porch saw a company of men bringing 
up the steps what seemed to be the body of a man. On 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 21 

inquiry I found that an Italian gentleman had fallen, that 
afternoon, over a preci[)ice, and was fatally injured. The 
poor man died that night. How he met with the accident 
will be described in the narrative of our visit to the same 
spot. Fearing lest our party, hearing of this accident, 
should suppose some of tlieir own friends to be injured, I 
rode back toward them, and soon met Mr. Goodsell, to 
whom I communicated the sad intelligence of the accident 
and the joyful news that we had good accommodations. 
He informed me that one of our pra'ty was badly hurt, not 
by falling or being thrown, but by a kick from a vicious 
horse. His wound, though painful, and sufficient to keep 
him in bed for a few hours, and to excite the sympathy of 
liis friends, was not as bad as it would have been if it had 
been worse ; and by all but the sufferer, and perhaps by him 
now, may be classed among the interesting adventures of 
the trip. When my friend left his faithful mule, the ani- 
mal, with every appearance of affection, turned his face 
toward his late rider, and made the valley ring again with 
his mighty voice. The note had soujething marvelous in 
it ; and to this day we almost fancy that we hear it rever- 
berating among the hills. Some of the ladies, on dismount- 
ing, found that their limbs refused to obey, and their mode 
of motion resembled that of a crab ; but the stiffness soon 
passed away, all had excellent appetites, all were cheerful, 
and all slept well, I ought to say, however, that the intel- 
ligence of the fatal accident referred to threw a tinge of 
gloom over the whole company. 

The next day was Sunday, and it rained from morning 
till night. In the evening we had a brief service, at which 
most of the guests were present. On Monday the storm 
continued for the greater part of the day, and I employed 
the intervals in riding on horseback through the Yalley and 

Ik 



22 TWO WEEKS IX THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

making myself familiar with its topograpliy. It is easy to 
see wliy we must ascend several tliousand feet above the 
Valley in order to get into it. It is so deep, and has such 
steep sides, tliat it cannot be entered from below, but must 
be approached from above and on the side. (Since my 
visit, however, tlie Indian trail, more tlian two thousand feet 
lower, lias been worked, and I learn has already been, or 
soon will be, declared open and safe. All robust and leis- 
urely travelers will, however, do well to take one of the 
high trails in entering or departing, as the scenery more 
than compensates for the increased labor. One great ad- 
vantage of the lower trail will be the possibility of entering 
and leaving the Yalley much earlier and later in the season, 
as the snow will melt in the Spring sooner and will not 
fall until later in the Autumn on the lower route than on 
the summit of the Sierra, over which the old Mariposa and 
Big Oak trails run.) 

I am going to give you simply an outline at first, and 
then describe the excursions made. The Geological Survey, 
already quoted, says, '* The Yalley proper consists of three 
parts. First, the bottom. This is a nearly level area, 
having a gentle slope. The width of the space between 
the d'ehrU slopes is very variable. In the upper part of 
the Valley it averages something less than half a mile. A 
little below the Three Brothers it closes to an eighth of a 
mile in width, and between El Capitan and Cathedral 
Hock the Yalley is narrowed down so that there is only 
just room for the river to pass. Below this it opens out 
again, and forms two charming little patches of meadow 
of about twenty acres each in extent. There are altogether 
one thousand one hundred and forty-one acres of land in 
the Yalley proper, of which seven hundred and forty-five 
are ineadow and the remainder a sandv s'oil. The elevation 



I 



TWO WEEKS m THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 23 

of the bottom of the Yalley above tJie sea level is in round 
numbers four thousand feet. Through the Yalley flows the 
Merced River, about seventy feet in width." 

The walls of this narrow Yalley are from three to four 
thousand feet in height. These are differently uamed, ac- 
cording to their shape and the fancy of those who have 
named them ; and it is but simple truth to say, that " ev- 
ery portion of the Yosemite wall is sublime." Over these 
" precipitous, black, jagged rocks, forever shattered, and 
the same forever," the grandest waterfalls and cataracts in 
the world dash and foam. If we suppose ourselves in the 
lower part of the "Yalley, on the left is El Capitan, " an im- 
mense block of granite projecting squarely out into the 
Yalley, aud presenting an almost vertical sharp edge three 
thousand three hundred feet in elevation." It can be seen 
in clear weather fifty or sixty miles. Opposite is the Bridal 
Yeil Fall, which leaps at first six hundred and thirty feet 
in the clear, and then plunges dow^n in cascades three hun- 
dred feet more. Opposite to this is the Yirgin Tears' Fall, 
more than one thousand feet high. Then, beyond the Bri- 
dal Yeil Fall, is the Cathedral Kock, whose summit is two 
thousand six hundred and sixty feet above the Yalley. Be- 
yond this, and standing on the walls of the Yalley, are 
the Spires, " isolated columns of granite, at least five hun- 
dred feet high." On the other side are the Three Broth- 
ers, which rise one behind another, the highest being three 
thousand eight hundred and thirty feet in elevation. Op- 
posite to these is the Sentinel Rock, which towers above 
the river three thousand and forty-three feet. 

About two miles above the Yosemite Falls the Yalley 
divides into three narrower chasms or cafions ; the Merced 
River runs through the Middle, the Tenayo Fork through 
the left, and the South Fork through the right. On 



'V 



\ 



24 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

the left, above the division, rises tlie JSTorth Dome, three 
thousand live hundred and sixty-eight feet above the Yal- 
ley, and nearly opposite to it is the Half Dome or South 
Dome, which is four thousand seven hundred and thirty- 
seven feet high, absolutely perpendicular for more than 
two tliousand feet from the summit, "being probably the 
only one of all the prominent points about the Yosemite 
which never has been, and never will be, trodden by hu- 
man foot." Up this north-westerly canon is Mirror Lake, 
and above it is Mount Watkins. To form a proper idea of 
the purity of the atmosphere it must be remembered that 
four thousand feet must be added to the 'above heights, as 
the Yalley itself is at that elevation above the level of the 
sea. 

Follow^ing the Merced we soon approach the Yernal 
Fall, which is about four hundred feet in lieight ; beyond 
which, for about a mile, the river plunges over a series of 
escarpments, forming many cascades and rapids, and then 
the Nevada Fall is reached, which is nearly six hundred 
feet in perpendicular height. Behind and above it is the 
Cap of Liberty, a solid mass of granite, some two thou- 
sand feet from its base, and nearly perpendicular. Above 
and beyond the N"evada Fall are the high Sierras. 

By reference to this outline you can follow me without 
difficulty. On Monday I first rode down to the Bridal 
Yeil Fall, and fastening the horse to a tree, undertook to 
climb to its summit. A gentleman, just descending, said 
that he had gone as far as he dared alone, and would return 
if I would accompany him. After toiling about two hours 
we found it impossible to proceed further, and at a height 
of one thousand five hundred feet above the Merced River 
we surveyed the Yalley. At our left, and very close, was 
the Bridal Yeil Fall ; beneath was the Merced, plunging 



I 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 25 

tumnltnously along ; opposite was the Yirgin Tears' Fall, a 
hundred feet higher than the Stanbbach of Switzerland, and 
in all respects more beautiful; just above was the massive, 
smooth, white face of El Capitan, now partly covered with 
snow and partly hidden by the clouds and vapors which 
overhung and almost enveloped it. The grandeur of the 
spectacle defies description. Descending, I rode back to 
the hotel, and thence to the foot of the Yosemite Falls. 
These I saw by daylight, and starlight, and moonliglit, and 
by the light of an immense fire of brush made beneath 
them. How shall I describe them ? All the descriptions 
I had read or heard seemed contemptible as 1 stood there. 
A lady from Isew England, whom I did not know, stood 
entranced with the beauty and grandeur of the scene. At 
last, turning to the lady wdio accompanied her, she said, 
'•Tiuit is kind of pretty, isn't it!" I felt unspeakable con- 
tempt for one who would dare to apply any thing less than 
sublime to such a spectacle : but if I w^ere to tr}^ to describe 
it, and were to employ the most expressive language which 
could be commanded, and you were to visit the Valley, and 
take my description with you and read it there, your con- 
tempt for me would be as great as that which I felt for her. 
There is very little talking there. The common expressions 
of wonder, surprise, admiration, or pleasure, are not often 
heard. Men and women gaze and are silent, and even lit- 
tle children are made quiet by the overwhelming majesty 
of the place. 

On Tuesday morning I tried to find some one who 
desired to ascend the more difi^cult canons on foot, but 
met with no success ; all of my friends desired to leave 
the next morning, and must ride to save time. Just as I 
was determining to employ a guide, and go with no other 
company, one of our party said, " There is a Scotch gen- 



26 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

tleaian in the office whom you ought to see. He sajs he 
has been here three weeks, and has walked through the 
wliole region, and if he could lind a companion whose 
wind and linjbs were good he would stay a week longer." 
I hastened in and was introduced. The Scotchman crit- 
ically surveyed me and said, " IIow^ long can you walk ? " 
I did not like his tone. It implied doubt of iny pedes- 
trianism. As I had walked through most of the mount- 
ain regions of our own country, and over his native High- 
lands, I replied, " Eighteen hours without food or drink." 
He rose instantly and said, " AYe will ascend the ^orth 
Dome to-day." The rain in the Yalley had been snow 
on the mountains, and I had not walked much since the 
j)receding summer; but there was no room to hesitate. 
Though it w^as more than twenty miles, some of it of 
terrible climbing, I could not show the white feather. 

At eight w^e started, crossed the Yalley, and just beyond 
the Yosemite Falls entered the Indian Canon. For a little 
while w^e talked ; but when the climbing grew difficult we 
needed all our breath, and hours passed away in silence. 
No proposition of rest was made by my companion ; I 
would not first cry " Hold! enough." At last, after about 
four hours, we met a noted photographer, accompanied by 
his assistant. They told us that the summit w^as covered 
with snow, and enveloped in vapors, and advised us to turn 
back ; but that w^ould not do, for neither of us could in 
honor propose it. On w^e went, waded through the snow, 
and reached a point nearly a thousand feet higher than the 
IN'orth Dome and a mile to the north of it. But from that 
point to our destination wew^alked on a magnificent granite 
causeway, sometimes hundreds of yards with scarce a seam. 
At three o'clock we were on the Dome ; beneath were the 
Tenayo Fork and Mirror Lake ; opposite, seeming near 



TWO WEEKS IN- THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 27 

enough to touch, tlie stupendous Half Dome; to the east, 
the Sentinel Dome, and beyond, the Sentinel Rock, while 
in different directions we saw the various groups of the 
high Sierras, from ten to fourteen thousand feet above the 
level of the sea. It was piercingly cold, the summit was 
at intervals enveloped in clouds, and the wind blew vio- 
lently. Heaping together quantities of decayed wood, we 
built a great lire, to warm our hands and show our friends 
at the hotel that we were really there. While gathering 
wood we found a bottle containing the names of a party of 
four, one of whom was a woman, who had made the ascent 
some years before. After washing our sandwiches down 
our dry throats with some snow water, we began the de- 
scent, and though it was long after dark when we reached 
the hotel, w^e were in hue spirits and had settled two things, 
which in our remaining trips received contirmation — one 
was that my Scotch friend was much more expert in keep- 
ing and finding a trail than I, and the other that my eyes 
were more reliable for distant observations than liis. This 
enabled each to respect himself, and compelled him to re- 
spect the other. As for powers of endurance, he seemed 
satisfied, for he observed that "he did not have to hold 
back on my account." I did not deem it necessary to tell 
him that if he had " let out any more " he might have been 
compelled to " hold back." 

The next morning, after requesting our accommodating 
landlord to keep our rooms for us, as we should not return 
for some days, we walked to Mirror Lake. This little lake 
derives its deserved celebrity from the sublime scenery sur- 
rounding it, and which is reflected from its placid bosom ; 
and as the scenery is grander than that wliich surrounds 
other lakes, the reflection is more beautiful. My friend, the 
Scotchman, wdiose name is Maxwell, said that there were 



28 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

good fisli there, and lie would catch some. While he did 
so I slept, hoping to fully recover from the fatigue of the 
previous day, which for a "breaking in " was rather severe. 
The fish, wlien caught and cooked by a man who had a 
saloon there, were eaten, but tliey had a very peculiar effect 
on us both. We became very sick, and concluded that tlie 
cook had used two pounds of grease to one pound of fish. 
Iteturning, we crossed the Merced River on a log, and be- 
gan to ascend toward tlie Yernal FalL In every direction 
the scenery was grand, but when we reached the Fall itself 
we were more than delighted with its beauty. Three times 
as high as Niagara — its volume, of course, not nearly as 
great — it was yet tlie largest we had seen in tlie Yalley. 
" The rock behind this Fall is a perfectly square-cut mass of 
granite, extending across the canon," and the " path up its 
side near the Fall winds around and along a steepl}^ sloping 
mountain side," " The perpendicular part of the ascent is 
surmounted by the aid of ladders, which should be replaced 
by a substantial and well-protected staircase." This was 
written by Prof. Whitney, and the staircase has since been 
built, so that now the ascent is as safe as the entrance to a 
church. It was here that the Italian lost his life. One of 
the ladders rested on a ledge, perhaps ten feet long and 
four or five in width. Several ladies and gentlemen were 
descending, and the unfortunate man, when he reached the 
ledge just mentioned, turned around to offer his assistance 
to a lady just coming dowm. When he thus turned, his 
back w^as toward the precipice, and as she declined his aid 
he bowed and took one step backward, which caused him 
to lose his balance, and ho fell. headlong upon the rocks 
beneath. Though the ladders had rather an unsafe look, 
no accident had happened there, and while the politeness 
of the Italian is to be commended, and his fate deplored, 



TWO WEEKS ly THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 29 

his death is to be attributed to carelessness. He had, jnst 
before, drank a bottle of wine, and though not grossly 
intemperate, habitually used wines and stronger liquors. 
If his head had been quite steady it seems improbable tliat 
he would have turned his back on such a precipice and 
then proceed to act as if he were on a prairie. 

As it was now nearly night-fall we hailed with pleasure 
Snow's Cottage, at the foot of the Nevada Fall. Mrs. 
Snow is a Yermonter, a woman of shrewdness, activity, 
and disposed to please travelers. She knows how to cook 
all the plain dishes, and can furnish from her dairy milk 
and butter equal to those produced in her native State. 
We had recovered from the effects of our fish dinner, the 
walk had given us tine appetites, we ate heartily, soon went 
to bed, and foimd that " the sleep of the laboring man is 
sweet, whether he eat little or much." 

At half-past six in the morning we breakfasted, and 
having provided ourselves with a sandwich, set out on a 
tour into the higher regions. Our route lirst was to the 
summit of the Nevada Fall, up a magnificently romantic 
path by its side. The top reached, we went out upon a 
causeway of rocks into the middle of the river, and from 
a kind of cape or promontory, just above the lip of the Fall, 
beheld the w^ondrous panorama. Perpendicularly descend- 
ing beneath us was the N"evada; then the little spot of 
green, with Snow's house on it ; below, the cascades; then, 
the Yernal Fall; on the left, the lofty crest of the Sierras; 
on the right, the Cap of Liberty; and in the distance, por- 
tions of the main Yalley, with a glimpse of El Capitan. 
Here one might remain motionless for a day, and never 
grow weary or desire a change of position. My genial Scotch 
friend suggested that I ought by all means to ascend the 
Cap of Liberty, and offered to point out the path ; but said 



30 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

that as he had ah'eady made the ascent, lie would amuse 
himself below. Accordingly I began the jonrney up. The 
only difficulty was the steepness, for the trees were burnt 
off at the base of the mountain, and for the last fifteen hun- 
dred feet of perpendicular ascent it was smooth, bare gran- 
ite. The stillness and solitude deepened the impression of 
sublimity ; the views continually increased in grandeur and 
extent; and after an hour and a half of fair work the sum- 
mit was reached. It is, as the name indicates, a mass of 
granite shape^l like a cap, entirely smooth, but having on 
it one or two trees whose roots absorb all the earth there is. 
The scene cannot be described, and cannot be forgotten. 
If you ever ascend the Cap of Liberty, and remember this 
brief sketch, you will be grateful to me for not trying to 
describe the view.'^ I had not been on the summit more 
than twenty minutes when my companion appeared, and 
said that he would point out some objects which could not 
be identified without a guide. He then proposed to advance 
to the sharp edge of the cliff, and look at the rainbows play- 
ino; about the Nevada Fall. He did so, and stretchino; his 
body far out over the precipice, requested me to sit down 
upon his limbs, which done, he enjoyed for a few moments 
the scene, and then offered to exchange places with me, 
which Avas soon accomplished. If he had risen, or had 
been seized with a convulsion, no cannon ball ever rushed 
through the air more rapidly than my body would have 
plunged into the abyss. So long as neither of these hap- 
pened, there was no danger whatever, and the enjoyment 

* The artist has tried in the accompanying engraving to impart an idea 
of the grandeur of the Cap of Libert^y and the Nevada Fall. You must ex- 
pand the picture by supposing nine spires as high as Trinity, in New York, 
one above another, on the side of the Cap, and more than three Niagaras in 
heiglit, plunging down the Nevada. 






The Cap of Liberty and Nevada Fall. 



TWO WEEKS IN" THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 33 

amply repaid the trouble. Tlie descent was soon made, 
and the question now arose, where next? 

In the distance " Cloud's Rest" towered up more than 
ten thousand feet above the level of the sea, and about four 
thousand live liundred above our position. After a little 
deliberation, about noon we started for that mountain. At 
our left, now, was the Cap of Liberty, and beyond it the 
Half Dome, whose aspect is as imposing on this side as on 
tlie othei', tliough its form is very diiferent. For a few 
miles the way was quite level, and the walking easy ; there 
was no bridle path then, as tliere is now, and we trusted to 
our eyes. Often, on the various tours thus far, we had 
heard a peculiar sound, resembling the noise of an immense 
woodpecker; but as we continued to hear it when we were 
miles from any tree, my companion insisted that it was the 
noise of the beatino; of our own hearts. But as we heard 
nothing more when standing close to each other than when 
some distance apart, this theory was given up. What the 
cause of the sound was we could not determine, nor could 
any of the old settlers and travelers thereabouts explain, 
though others claimed to have heard it. At four in the 
afternoon we reached what we supposed to be the summit, 
but found that there are three peaks, the highest of which 
had not been visible at all from any point which we had 
passed before, and that it was at least half a mile from us. 
On we w^ent, determined to attain it, and ate our last sand- 
wich on the very crest at five o'clock. We saw, from 
Cloud's Rest, the Yalley itself; Mount Lyell, thirteen thou- 
sand feet high ; Mount Dana, thirteen thousand tw^o hun- 
dred and twenty-seven feet high ; Mount Hoffman, Mount 
Star King, the Obelisk Range, and innumerable peaks and 
ranges, and could apply to it a remark made l3y a well- 
known traveler about another mountain, '' Only those who 



34 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

have been there can teli what a mistake is made b}^ omitting 
it." We now descended as rapicjlj as possible, bnt it was 
after eiglit o'clock, and quite dark, when we turned the 
base of the Cap of Liberty and began the descent of the 
rocky and precipitous path down the side of the Nevada 
Fall. A descent is always more perilous than an ascent, 
if the path be at all steep; to make that descent in dark- 
ness was perilous enough to be very exciting. Mr. Max- 
well, however, was equal to any professional guide, and I 
humbly followed, jit ninethe liglits at Snow's were just be- 
ing extinguished when we knocked and voices were heard. 
Promptly Mr. Snow ushered us in, promptly Mrs. Snow 
cooked us a supper, and promptly we ate it, and w^ent at 
once to bed, declaring tliatsuch a day's work had given us 
the appetite and sleeping power of growing boys. 

At six A. M. we were up, and at 6.30 were oif again, 
this time determined to "bring up " somewhere else that 
night, or sleep out on the mountains. Having reascended 
to the summit of the Nevada Fall, we continued our walk 
along the side of the river to the Little Yosemite Yalley. 
" This is a flat valley, or mountain meadow, about four 
miles long and from a half a mile to a mile wide. It is 
inclosed between walls from two thousand to three thou- 
sand feet high, with numerous projecting buttresses and 
angles, topped with dome-shaped masses. The Little Yo- 
semite Yalley is a little over six thousand feet above the 
sea level, or two thousand above the Yosemite, of wdiich 
it is a kind of continuation, being on the same stream, 
namely, tlie main Merced. The views there are beautiful, 
unique, and some of them very grotesque. A bout half-way 
up the Yalley " a cascade comes sliding down in a clear 
sheet over a rounded mass of granite ; it was cstiniated at 
one thousand two hundred feet in height." Having spent 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AIsD VICIXITY. 8o 

some hours here we returned toward the I^evada Fa,ll, in 
search of a log on which to cross the river. ]!^one being 
found. Mr. Maxwell proposed to wade it, and, removing a 
portion of his clothing, made the attempt, but soon found 
that he had miscalculated the depth, and becam.e thoroughly 
soaked witli the coldest water. I preferred to disrobe en- 
tirely, and avoid the necessity of climbing in wet clothes. 
We then began the ascent of Mount Starr King, wiiicli 
rises steeply from the shore of the river. The chaparral, 
a very stiff, impenetrable growth, obstructed our progress 
at every step. In addition to the steepness, the labor was 
as great as that of forcing through hedges, and at the end 
of two hours we seemed provokingly close to the river. 
But by two o'clock we were as near the summit as it is 
possible for human beings to get by climbing. Prof 
Whitney says : '' Starr King is the steepest cone in the 
region with the exception of the Halt' Dome, and is exceed- 
ingly smooth, having hardly a break in it; the summit is 
quite inaccessible, and we have not been able to measure 
its height." We think that we were w^ithin six hundred 
feet perpendicular of the summit. Having surveyed the 
marvelous panorama, which stretched from Monte Diablo 
in the Coast Range, near San Francisco, to Mount Lyell 
and the Obelisk Range, we descended rapidly toward the 
Illilouette-, or South Fork, along which we wandered for 
perhaps two miles before finding a place to cross. Mr. 
Maxwell could cross a log over a chasm five hundred feet 
deep, and his head would be wholly unmoved ; not so 
with me — though under the encouragement of his example 
I improved. On this occasion I crawled across a narrow 
log, where a slip would have been fatal, taking the attitude 
of boys playing the ancient game of "see-saw." It was 
now five P. M., and we were a long distance from any human 



36 TWO WEEKS IN" THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

liabitation. According to Maxwell's judgment we began 
to climb almost perpendicularly up the mountain side. 
Two hours passed in silence and severe toil, when Mr. M. 
cried out, " There is a grisly !" And so it was. The im- 
mense brute, however, showed no disposition to molest us, 
and walked slowly away into a rocky cavern. Two or 
three days before another had been seen by a party of 
ladies and gentlemen, whose guide formed them into a 
hollow square in front of Sir Bruin ; this gave him no al- 
ternative but to advance upon them; the square broke 
into as many pieces as there were persons, and the bear 
went on his way undisturbed. 

At eight o'clock, with our tongues greatly swollen and 
hanging out of our mouths with thirst, there having been 
neither snow nor water on the last ascent, we reached the 
summit. The sun was just setting and the full moon rising 
opposite, and they seemed but a few miles apart. As they 
rose and set behind the vertical summits of mountain 
ranges, it seemed as though there was an invisible axis 
common to both, and tliat it was so inclined that one sank 
as the other rose. I^ever have I beheld any thing more 
beautiful in the Alps or any of our American mountains 
than the blended rays of the rising moon and setting sun 
reflected from the snowy Sierras. 

In one of our earlier trips, knowing that the Scotch love 
and freely use strong liquors, I asked my companion what 
he thouglit of whisky as a stimulant in case of exhaustion. 
He replied that he had traveled through Australia, and 
many other regions where hardship and privation were the 
rule, and had slept out many a night, and that while he 
was not a total abstinence man, he believed that '* every 
drop of alcohol a man takes on such tours weakens his 
nervous and muscular system, and diminishes his power 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 37 

of endurance." This was an agreeable surprise. Up to 
this point our only drink had been water, but now we 
could find no water, and our tongues were swollen and 
painful. Mr. Maxwell produced a flask, and said, "Shall 
we drink ? " but just then we descried a snowbank, 
which relieved our immediate necessity. Except the loss 
of a few drops, necessary to reduce the swelling of the 
tongue, and a little used on the feet, the flask w^ent back 
as full as when we started. We now walked rapidly along 
the crest to the Glacier Peak, as my friend and guide 
thought we could descend it; but it was freezing cold when 
we reached the canon, and the light of the moon gave us 
no help on that side of the Yalley. After some debate we 
concluded to attempt it, but half an hour's work convinced 
us of its impracticability at night, though Mr. Maxwell 
and an Englishman named Cross had descended in the day- 
time. Across the Yalley, far up under the Yosemite Fall, 
a huge fire was burning, kindled by Mr. Muir, a resident 
of the Yalley, who had an engagement to spend the night 
there with us, but we had failed to reach it. The temper- 
ature was now about five degrees below freezing point, ice 
formed all around us, and our clothing, wet by tlie water 
in the canon, began to grow stiff. We had no time to 
lose, and walked at a rapid pace to Peregoy's, arriving 
there at twenty minutes of one in the morning, having 
walked and climbed steadily from a little before 7 A. M. 
to 12.40 A. M. next day, making just the eighteen hours 
I had foolishly boasted of in the beginning. Peregoy could 
give us no bed, nor any dry clothes, so we sat over the 
cook-stove until 5 o'clock, when two guides got up and 
we slipped into their places and slept till 6.30, when wo 
breakfasted and afterward ascended the Sentinel Dome, 
subsequently going down the Sentinel Rock Canon to 



38 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

the hotel, which was reached Saturda}^ afternoon at four 
o'clock. 

If you ask whether we were fatigued, truth requires me 
to say that after turning away from the Glacier Peak to 
walk eight miles to Peregoy's, if memory had failed we 
could still have told by our sensations that we must have 
been walking; but there was not a moment during the 
whole week's work when we were not in better physical 
and mental condition than when we began, excepting short 
periods of great peril, while we were descending Ghicier 
Peak and Sentinel Rock Canons. 

There are some, perhaps, who will say, "I cannot see 
any pleasure, and I do see criminal recklessness, in such 
labors and exposures." To all such I thus reply: The 
labor is sweet to a genuine lover of mountains. He 
personifies every seemingly inaccessible crag and distant 
summit, determines to conquer it, and, having done so, 
feels his mental, moral, and physical systems alike braced 
for further effort in any department. The exposures to an 
experienced pedestrian are more apparent than real ; and 
the possibilities of accident do not increase danger, be- 
cause the knowledge of them leads to greater caution ; not, 
indeed, the trembling caution worse than none, but the 
care which experience and steadiness of nerve render easy 
and almost instinctive. To those who " can see no 
pleasure" in such a tour I commend the following inci- 
dent : " On one occasion the celebrated Robert Hall 
having ascended the dome of the Radcliffe Library at 
Oxford, England, beheld with rapture the vision of sur- 
passing beauty, and turning to a friend exclaimed, "O 1 if 
this earth is so beautiful what must the ]^ew Jerusalem 
be!" Soon afterward the equally celebrated Andrew 
Fuller was taken to the same spot. After looking around 



TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 39 

a moment he scratched his head, and said to the gentle- 
man who was with him, •' Have you seen any new defini- 
tion of justification by faith lately ? " 

There are diversities of taste, and if yon " can see no 
pleasure" in such tours, can you not spend your summers 
at Saratoga, and walk in slippers from spring to spring, 
and drink the waters, and thus evince beyond dispute 
your manhood, and descent from tliose brave men whom 
we reverently call "our fathers?' 

On Sunday I went over to Hutching's Hotel, and listened 
to an admirable sermon delivered by Kev. Mr. Perkins, a 
Congregational minister of Ware, Mass., and in the evening 
had strength enough left to conduct a service of at least 
ordinary length at Black's. 

The Yosemite is more sublime than any cathedral, and 
the voices of its many w^aters more musical than the most 
magnificent orchestra. Standing in awe before the silent, 
inaccessible, apparently immutable Half Dome, it is be- 
fitting us to say, as Moses said among the mountains of 
Asia, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all gen- 
erations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or 
ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from 
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." 

On the 5th of October, 1863, 1 stood on the Col de Balme 
in Switzerland, While the guide was caring for the mules, 
I ascended an adjacent summit, five hundred feet higher, 
and met there a British officer, traveling like myself, alone. 
After a few moments' conversation lie said, " Look at Mont 
Blanc, • with its myriad bristling crags ; ' see that sunlight 
intensified a hundred times by the cathedrals of ice from 
which it is reflected ; behold the Mer de Glace, does it not 
resemble that *sea of glass mingled with fire?' Could 
there be any thing on earth more sublime ? " I responded, 



40 TWO WEEKS IN THE YOSEMITE AND VICINITY. 

"It is grand beyond imagination." "But," said lie, 
" there is something far sublimer than this." " And what 
is that ? " I asked. He replied, " That the God who made 
all this, and by a word could remand it all to nothingness 
and night, so loved you and me as to give his only begotten 
Son to live and die and rise for us, that when this won- 
drous panorama shall have passed away we shall be with 
Him forever." This, as nearly as I can recollect it, is the 
conversation which I had w^itli the eloquent and spiritually 
minded British officer ; and in the Yosemite I remembered 
it and thought, Yes, that God, the Creator of all that thrills 
me here, should give his Son to save me, is the sublimest 
of all possible conceptions. May those who read these 
words have a true sympathy with ITaturein its grand man- 
ifestations, which cannot but elevate and refine them, and 
also a deeper sympathy with the God of ]N"ature, who reveals 
in Christ what the mountains, and the seas, and the stars, 
cannot tell — his pei'sonal sympathy and love for every one 
of his earthl}^ children. 



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